Professor Xun WU is a professor at the Division of Public Policy, the Division of Social Science and the Division of Environment and Sustainability. He is also the Director of the Institute for Public Policy, the Director of Leadership and Public Policy (Executive Education), and Acting Head of the Division of Public Policy.

Professor Wu is a policy scientist with a strong interest in the linkage between policy analysis and public management. Trained in engineering, economics, public administration, and policy analysis, his research seeks to make contribution to the design of effective public policies in dealing emerging policy challenges across Asian countries. His research interests include policy innovations, water resource management, health policy reform, and anti-corruption, and his work has been published in top journals in his fields of study, such as Policy Sciences, Public Administration Review, Governance, Social Sciences & Medicine, and Water Resources Research. He is a co-editor of the Cambridge Studies in Comparative Public Policy, and Cambridge Elements in Public Policy.

He has been involved extensively in consultancy and executive education. He has consulted for the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, UNEP, International Vaccine Institute, and numerous government agencies on a variety of topics, such as infrastructure planning and development, environmental and social impact assessment, design and implementation of randomized control trials (RCTs), and Public-Private Partnership. He has designed and delivered customized executive education programs in policy development, leadership, and public sector management for a diverse range of clients, such as Bank of Indonesia, Yunnan Provincial Government of China, Public Utilities Board (PUB) of Singapore, General Secretariat of the Executive Council (GSEC) of UAE, and Ministry of Water Resources of Nepal.

Prior to joining HKUST, he held a faculty position (2001-2015) at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in the National University of Singapore, while serving as the Director of the Institute of Water Policy. He had also worked as a lecturer in Renmin University of China (1988-1992) and a survey specialist at the World Bank (2000-2001).

His media expertise includes infrastructure development, water security, health policy reform and anti-corruption.

Public-Private Partnerships in the Water Sector in Southeast Asia: Trends, Issues, and Lessons (with Schuyler House), in Darryl Jarvis and Toby Carroll (eds) Beyond the Development State: Neoliberalism, New Public Management and Contemporary Development in Asia, Cambridge University Press, 2017 (in press)

Adoption of Increasing Block Tariff (IBTs) among Urban Water Utilities in Major Cities in China (with Li Li). Urban Water Journal, 14(7), 2017

Infrastructure Development and the Economics of Cooperation in the Eastern Nile (with Marc Jeuland and Dale Whittington). Water International, 42(2), 2017

Regulating Discretion: Privatization of Manila’s Water Supply (with Leong Ching), in Terje Tvedt and Terje Oestigaard, A History of Water: Water and Urbanization, Series III, Volume 1, I.B. Tauris, 2014

Second Best Governance? Governments and Governance in the Imperfect World of Health Care Delivery in China, India and Thailand in Comparative Perspective (with M Ramesh and Michael Howlett). Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, 17(4), 2015

The Environment and the Economy: Some Questions Regarding the Performance of the Chinese Economy (with Dodo Thampapillai and Lawrence R Sunderaj), International Journal of Employment, Workplace and Environment, 2(1), 2007

Independent Power Producer (IPP) in Indonesia and the Philippines (with Priyambudi Sulistiyanto), in Howlett, M. and M Ramesh (eds.), De-regulation and Its Discontents: Rewriting the Rules in Asia, Edward Elgar, 2006